Devotional: Prayer is the solace of the soul...

Prayer is the solace of the soul; therefore the Apostle directs us in everything to pray. Indeed, we can not be said to wait upon God without prayer; for prayer is the fixing of the eye, the outgoing of the heart, the breathing of the spirit, the cry of the soul.

In waiting upon God, let your prayers be simple-simple as a child's speech to its father. Let them be direct, going direct from your heart to the heart of God. Let them be comprehensive, comprising all you need or wish, all you fear or dread, all that is needful now, and all that appears desirable for the future. Everything should be turned into prayer; all our concerns should be laid before the Lord. They may be temporal or spiritual, limited to time or run into eternity; but whether they regard the soul or the body, the individual person only or the family, the church, the country, or the world, whether they be great things or only small matters, they should be carried to the throne, and be laid before the Lord.

This is the way to enjoy settled, solid, and habitual peace, and to carry out the Savior's admonition– "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in me." Anything that troubles us, however small or apparently trifling, interests our heavenly Father, and he wishes to hear of it from his child's own mouth. Hence the exhortation– "Trust in him at all times; you people, pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us."
...By James Smith, of Cheltenham, New York, 1869 image by babasteve